I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and, amongst other things, to flexible communication schemes for wireless communications systems.
II. Background
In many scenarios, to enable effective exchange of data between user equipment (UE) and base stations (a network) that service the UE, transmission of data must be precisely scheduled. Conventionally, base stations or other network entities create a schedule to enable UE to receive, for instance, data over a high-speed data link. Additionally, as UE is mobile, the base station (or other network entity) includes within the schedule periods of time that transmission of data will temporarily cease, thereby enabling the UE to determine if another base station, another frequency, and/or another technology will provide better network services when compared to services provided by a base station that is currently servicing the UE.
In a detailed example, in systems such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the UE transmits and receives at different times and there exists idle time during which the UE can measure parameters associated with other frequencies, technologies, and/or base stations to determine if a handover is desirable. In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, however, data is constantly being transmitted between UE and a base station, such that no guaranteed idle time exists that the UE can measure performance parameters with respect to other frequencies and/or technologies. In these types of scheduled systems, because downlink data is scheduled dynamically by a network entity, the UE has little advance notice of when packets addressed to it will arrive. Any data that arrives while the UE is taking measurements with respect to other frequencies and/or technologies will be lost.